The very act or preparing or cooking a meal is known as pachakam in Malayalam, the local language of Kerala. The Kerala Food has a distinct flavour of spices and of course, the coconut! Spices play a pivotal role in Keralite cuisine. From small onions or shallots, to cocumstar, red chillies and red chilli powder, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, garlic, coriander and cumin makes their cuisine spicy, tangy and lip smacking. Sea food is a staple diet, along with beef, pork, poultry and mutton in the non-vegetarian sections. Karimeen or the pearl spotted fish is a rare and expensive fish here. It’s delicious and tastes fantastic as a fry or a curry form. Seer fish, nanga, cuttle fish, king fish etc are other popular favourites here. Rice, coconut and curry leaves are omnipresent in almost every Keralite dish. The rice consumed in traditional Keralite homes is the unpolished rice. It’s considered healthier, as its original fibres are retained. In fact, the rice here is used in several styles and tastes amazing. For example, rice string hoppers, known as Idiappams, pounded rice, known as Puttu are some of the popular rice dishes, along with the usual favourites dosa and idli. Usually, a breakfast in a traditional Keralite home would consist of puttu, idli, sambar, dosa and chutney. The Kerala Porota is a popular favourite here. It tastes delicious with mutton fry, chicken fry or chicken roast. There is a popular drink amongst one and all, and truly outsiders have to develop a taste for the same. It’s Toddy – a fermented coconut drink that does justice to a tapioca and fish curry meal. Another popular drink is the Arrack which is highly intoxicating and usually had with spicy pickles and boiled eggs. Other popular drinks are kanji (rice congee) and payaru (moong bean).